


Paint Spots

by suhnatched



Series: studies in love [1]
Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Art Student Donghyuck, Blindfolds, Detective Johnny Seo, First Kiss, Flirting, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-08 00:04:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19095688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suhnatched/pseuds/suhnatched
Summary: Donghyuck somehow got himself roped into signing up for his best friend's psychology project. Kissing a stranger for a hundred bucks? Easy. Doing it while wearing a blindfold?He didn't remember signing up for that.





	Paint Spots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [renhyuck (thereisnoreality)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisnoreality/gifts).



> k so i'm working on this series where each one is just a ship (whether platonic or romantic, hence the name 'studies in love' where love can take all forms) and then the au may or may not be drastically different. depends on what i'm feeling.
> 
> to thank all the ao3 writers here that have spent a lot of time writing fics for us to enjoy, i'm gifting each fic to a random writer who has written the same main ship as each one shot will be.
> 
> renhyuck, i hope you enjoy this fic!!

“Remind me again what this is even for?”

Donghyuck didn’t know why he had agreed to participate in the study that Yerim had practically forced him into signing up for so she could complete her psychology project, but he was more agreeable to it when she had _casually_ mentioned that he would be getting paid $100 for it as every other participant was. A free hundred bucks to make out with someone? Sign him up.

At that particular moment, Donghyuck was looking at his best friend through the vanity mirror that she had sat him in front of, his finger having stilled on his phone from where he was scrolling through the comments of his most recent post on Instagram — a blue and black painting that his older brother, Taeyong, had modelled off of him, spanning a full wall in their large home.

“It’s because many studies show that fast but gentle intimacy helps your instincts to learn whether or not a person will be a good match for you in the long term or not.” Yerim replied, not even bothering to look at her friend as she picked up a large box of random art materials to move out of the way. Of course, she would be using the art classroom for her video — it was quite spacious and the professor was very open minded about any and all projects. “In my essay, I’m discussing how an intimate relationship starting off right when you first meet someone and express your interest in them can help fuel not only feelings from growing on either side, but can also help you find a good match so you’re not wasting your time trying a relationship with other people. I got the idea after Jaemin and I finally got together a couple years ago and finally have the chance to work on it for a school assignment.”

Donghyuck sighed fondly when she brought up her boyfriend, an abnormally tall but skinny man with pale, flawless skin and handsome features that were also perfect for smiling (as Jaemin usually did anyway). He was also the younger brother of Yuta, who was Taeyong’s best friend, but Jaemin was nothing like Yuta. Where Yuta was more sporty and playful, Jaemin was kind and caring (when he wasn’t harping on Yerim and Donghyuck for their sometimes aggressive jokes). Apparently he and Yerim got along better than Donghyuck had previously thought, however, because they confessed to their feelings two years before and had even talked about moving in together when Yerim’s semester was over.

“I’m not saying that I don’t believe you, Yerim, it’s just that I don’t want to randomly kiss a stranger in front of a camera for your experiment.” Donghyuck said, turning in the chair to look at his best friend with a slight smile.

“You agreed to do it, so you are and there’s no backing out on me.” Yerim said, raising an eyebrow at him without looking up from her phone, and Donghyuck ignored the point she made in favour of turning his head away.

“If they’re ugly, you owe me _so_ hard.” Donghyuck said teasingly, the two of them knowing that he had no _real_ preference in who he spent his time with (as an artist like his brother, he had a healthy appreciation for any and all the people around him, not to mention his big heart that meant he wanted everybody to know what love and care felt like), and Yerim looked up from her phone with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Before he could ask her what she was plotting out, as she was bound to do, another one of their fellow students with a clipboard in her hand called his name out, and he stood up from his stool with a small smile.

“Alright Donghyuck, here’s your blindfold. Just put it on right here, and I’ll lead you over to where we’ll be filming this.” The student said with a smile, holding out a plain black blindfold for him to take, and Donghyuck shot Yerim a glare that could kill — blindfolds hadn’t been mentioned at _all_ in any of their conversations about this study — before taking it gently and slipping it on over his head. He adjusted the tie so it wouldn’t fall off too easily, and he held his hands out so the student could lead him. She held them gently and weaved them through a few people before placing him in a spot, patting his shoulders once.

“Just wait for the loud beep and then you can introduce yourselves with your first name only. You two can say a few things but don’t give away anything personal as you are supposed to know nothing about each other.” The student said, and Donghyuck realised that there must have been another person standing in the spot across from him before he was brought to the film set. Footsteps were heard walking away, and there was pure silence for a moment before a loud buzzer sounded. After a long and silent pause, there was a slight laugh from in front of Donghyuck.

“I think that might be the beep we were supposed to hear.” A voice said, and Donghyuck bit his lip. The man across from him had a deep voice of silk, one that had definitely been gifted to this stranger by the gods living above. “Oh right, my name is Johnny.”

“I’m Donghyuck.” Donghyuck replied, not really sure what to say other than that, and he let out a slightly shaky sigh that totally did not come from his nervousness about the entire situation. “Um, how are you doing today, Johnny?”

A laugh sounded from the man — Johnny — in front of him, and Donghyuck' tanned cheeks burned with a gentle pink blush at the sound of it (musical, absolutely perfect, he couldn’t really think of any words that would do the beauty of it justice. All he knew was that he wanted to listen to that laughter all day, maybe even listen to it while painting so he could capture a depiction of pure happiness on canvas).

“I’m doing good, thank you. This is different from my normal day, I must say.” Johnny said, a smile reflecting in his happy tone, and Donghyuck let out a surprised laugh at both his words and the accidental rhyme that had been said.

“Same, actually.” Donghyuck said, and a shiver travelled through his body as he felt calloused fingertips brushing against the back of his hand. “So, I guess we should just do this, then.”

“You’re right, we should.” Johnny said, his other hand landing abruptly on Donghyuck's chest. The artist grinned in spite of himself and placed his own hand over the one on his chest, raising it up to his face. Johnny’s hand moved to cup Donghyuck’s paint speckled cheek, and the artist could feel his skin rising in temperature as he thought about the fleeting thought from that morning that _oh yeah, he should definitely wash his face._ Instead of thinking about that, he turned his head slightly to brush his lips against the other man’s wrist, smiling slightly when he felt Johnny’s pulse racing against his mouth.

“Maybe you should try not to punch me in the face.” Donghyuck said, his tone soft with his joke as he took a slight step closer, and he felt the fingertips against the back of his hand disappearing another hand was pressing against his other cheek. Johnny’s hands were smooth over his skin, both thumbs smoothing over Donghyuck’s cheekbones.

“Try and put your hands on my waist, if you can find it.” Johnny said, his voice soft but firm (commanding, Donghyuck’s mind supplied happily. He ignored his mind) as he moved closer as well, and Donghyuck managed to plant both hands on the other man’s tapered waist quickly. The artist wanted to hold his breath when he felt a toned and hardened body that seemed _much taller than him_ gently pressing into his front, and he let out a nervous laugh as his hands tightened slightly on Johnny’s waist.

“So, do we just do this?” Donghyuck asked quietly, and Johnny laughed in response to his question as his thumbs stilled on Donghyuck’s cheekbones. The artist tilted his head up at the sound, feeling the soft press of a forehead against his own and licking his lips in anticipation. He was already so drawn to this man in front of him, even though he was unable to see what Johnny looked like — maybe Yerim really was onto something when she explained intimacy helping to tell you who would be a good match, but she would never hear those words coming out of his own mouth.

“Yeah, I think we just do this.” Johnny said, letting out a shaky breath that wafted against Donghyuck’ lips. The artist let out a tiny breath of laughter before he finally took the jump and leaned in to gently connect their lips in a soft kiss, unable to resist the action any longer.

At first it was _just_ a gentle press of lips together, Donghyuck's chapped lips against Johnny’s soft and full ones and both closed to keep it chaste. But then, Johnny tilted his head to the right and moved his lips just slightly to begin the real kiss, and it became so much more than just a press of lips. Donghyuck was suddenly hyper aware of nothing but Johnny right in front of him, even though they couldn’t see each other, and it only took him a moment before he was moving his own lips in the same rhythm.

Donghyuck had been imagining a kiss like this with someone special for almost as long as he knew about his preference for both men and women, always being the tactile one in a relationship and instigating any physical intimacy in an effort to be closer to whoever he was dating. However, not even his most cliche fantasies and wildest dreams could truly live up to just how he felt while he was kissing Johnny, his entire body crackling with electricity that had finally exploded when they kissed.

The other man’s hands were making their way from Donghyuck's cheeks down to his side, so the artist took the initiative to bring his own hands up from Johnny’s waist to cup his stubbled face. There was the hint of what seemed to be a scar cutting into the top of his lip in one spot, but Donghyuck didn’t care as he let his tongue dart out to check out his hunch (he was right, it was definitely a scar). Now hungry for more of the taste of _Johnny,_ the artist slid his fingers up his face and into soft and wavy hair, tugging on a few locks gently just to see what kind of reaction he could pull out of him. Johnny let out a noise that could’ve only been described as a fucking _whimper,_ from a grown ass man, and Donghyuck suddenly realised that he never wanted to hear that sound from anybody but Johnny for the rest of his life — it had been a much better reaction than the artist had hoped for, truthfully.

The hands on his waist suddenly disappeared, and Johnny wrenched away from the kiss for a split second to whisper a frustrated, ‘damn jacket’s in the way, hold on’, before their lips came back into a passionate kiss like there hadn’t been a single pause. Strong arms wound tightly around Donghyuck's waist and pressed both of their bodies together tightly, as if Johnny was already possessive of him despite this being their first meeting. The other man brazenly swiped the tip of his tongue against Donghyuck's bottom lip as if they had nobody to watch them, and Donghyuck allowed his lips to part against Johnny’s. Their tongues instantly clashed together in their hunger to become closer, Donghyuck’s hands sliding up from Johnny’s hair to grip onto the back of the blindfold. Clumsy fingers managed to untie the fabric around Johnny’s head even though he was distracted by a hot mouth against his own, ripping it away once it had come undone as he held onto that soft, wavy hair like a lifeline.

Johnny’s hold on the artist’s waist disappeared as he slid both hands up to push Donghyuck' own blindfold off, seemingly not caring if they were actually allowed to do such a thing or not. Donghyuck could vaguely catch a few whispers and discomforted rustling from where the cameras had most likely been placed, but he didn’t care as he slid his hands down the other man’s toned body to rest back to their first position on Johnny’s waist. Their lips moved in sync as they worked to slow down the kiss, both of them realising that if it had gotten any more passionate than it already had been, they could probably be arrested for indecent exposure. Johnny’s hands were holding the back of Donghyuck' neck as they gently pulled away from the kiss, and Donghyuck kept his eyes closed for a moment before letting them flutter open to look at Johnny.

“Hey there.” Johnny mumbled softly, his pink lips turned up into a small smile when they made eye contact. Donghyuck didn’t even want to blink as he took in the other man’s appearance — a head of brown and wavy hair, lightly tanned skin with dimples caving into the apples of his cheeks that Donghyuck wanted to press kisses to, and a white button up with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Gentle brown eyes met his own with slight crinkles at the corners, telling Donghyuck that Johnny smiled a lot (which Donghyuck thought should be right, considering how absolutely beautiful Johnny was when he smiled like that. In fact, he wanted that smile directed to him for the rest of their lives). He had always been self conscious of his own appearance — almost black eyes with tanned, freckled skin and dyed ginger hair courtesy of Taeyong’s hairstylist boyfriend — but the way that Johnny gazed down at him (he was centimetres taller than the artist but gave off a gentle giant vibe, it was endearing) made all of those insecurities disappear.

“Hey.” Donghyuck whispered in return, his dark eyes wide as they met Johnny’s once again. A small smile appeared on his own lips once he realised that they were still pressed up against each other, but neither man made a move to pull away from their tight embrace. “I’m Lee Donghyuck.”

“Johnny Seo. It’s nice to officially meet you.” Johnny said, his smile growing impossibly wider (and seriously, Donghyuck was going to start needing to wear sunglasses if Johnny didn’t stop smiling anytime soon). “I’m a detective — that’s actually why I was wearing a jacket, I had to come here straight from a case to get here on time, and I was too rushed to stop and take off my jacket when I was in the car driving here. I didn’t even get the chance to before that blindfold was put on, but then our kiss got me all hot and bothered and — I didn’t mean it the way it sounded, I promise.”

“You’re _just_ as awkward as me, thank goodness for that.” Donghyuck said, his lips turning up into a grin as Johnny ducked his head to try and hide the pretty blush on those pale cheeks. “Usually guys as attractive as you are wouldn’t be awkward and wouldn’t be at all attracted to how awkward my usual habits are, like snorting while laughing.”

Johnny let out a soft giggle at those words, his hands reluctantly sliding down Donghyuck’s neck to drop down to  his sides, and Donghyuck inhaled sharply before gently pulling his own hands off of Johnny’s body to stuff them into his jean pockets. They kept their eye contact for a couple of moments before the vibration of a phone startled them out of it, and Johnny frowned as he pulled out his phone to look at the message.

“Fuck, I gotta go, we’ve got a lead in our case.” Johnny said, sliding his phone into the pocket of his jacket and pulling it back on quickly. He paused for a moment before stepping back into Donghyuck’s personal space, and the artist easily leaned back up to meet the detective (a detective!) in the middle as they shared another kiss — this one short and sweet, as Johnny had to go for something urgent, but still just long enough for the electricity to travel throughout Donghyuck’ body completely. Their hands met for a moment as Johnny pulled himself from Donghyuck’s lips, and the artist watched as the tall man finally took a few steps away from him. “Don’t forget to call me!”

“What?” Donghyuck said intelligently, his head still feeling like he was swimming underwater from prolonged contact with an _actual god_ as dark brown eyes followed the detective’s rush out of the large art classroom with a grin and wave in Yerim’s direction. Eventually, he slowly shuffled off of the filming area that had been set up for his friend’s project and went to sit back down on the stool of the vanity that he had been placed in front of earlier, bringing both hands up to his face to rub his temples, but his movements fell short when he felt the sharp edge of a card in his hand, and that brought him further into reality.

“You two were sizzling together!” Yerim said excitedly, bounding over from the classroom door to where Donghyuck was sitting with a wide grin that the artist just barely noticed as his gaze was trapped on the white card in his hand.

‘Detective Johnny Seo’ was printed in simple, glossy font underneath the Seoul Police Department symbol, two different phone numbers printed underneath his name. Scrawled in neat ink beside one phone number was ‘cell’, while the other had a much messier ‘work’ beside it.

“Johnny gave me his number.” Donghyuck said softly, prompting Yerim to stop rambling with her questions as she looked at him in confusion.

“Hot detective did what?” Yerim asked in clarification, having not quite caught the words that spilled from Donghyuck’ lips. Instead of answering her question outright, he held out the card and let her take it from his hands, watching with a smile as Yerim’s face completely lit up in  happiness for him. “Oh my God, Donghyuck! He gave you his phone number!”

“He did!” Donghyuck said, laughing as he took the business card back from her grasp to look over the shiny symbol of the SPD again. “Now go away and leave me alone so I can figure out how to send him a text message without you looking over my shoulder judging my every message. I know I’m awkward, at least he thought it was endearing.”

“Fine, but I’m putting this in the Dreamie group chat and you can’t stop me.” Yerim said, pulling out her phone and typing away as she started to walk away. “‘I got Donghyuck a boyfriend, now he can stop being an emo gay’.”

“I’m bi, Yerim!” Donghyuck called back to correct her teasingly, shaking his head as he pulled out his own cell phone. He took great care in adding Johnny’s cell phone number to his contact list, opening up a new message to send to him since he would most likely be too busy for a call at the moment.

 

[ **txt** ] hey johnny, it’s donghyuck!!!  
[ **txt** ] i don’t kno when u will be available next, since u seem busy w a case  
[ **txt** ] that’s why i’m texting u instead of calling lol  
[ **txt** ] anyway, um, i was wondering if u would wanna go on a real date, maybe to a cafe or dinner or something  
[ **txt** ] i don’t kno what works w ur schedule but let me kno  
[ **txt** ] i want to see u again sometime soon, i hope we get that chance

 

The artist let out a long breath as he typed out a few text messages to Johnny, hoping that he hadn’t just been reading into the whole kiss experiment. But he had gotten the detective’s cell phone number out of it, and Johnny had even kissed Donghyuck again before darting out the door to get to work. He had a very good feeling about their entire encounter, thankfully, and it only solidified as his phone buzzed multiple times with a few new messages.

 

I’m so glad you found my business card! [ **txt** ]  
I wasn’t sure if you would, I thought I was too subtle about it. [ **txt** ]  
I’ll be a bit busy this week since this case is so difficult, we’ve been working on it for months. [ **txt** ]  
My partner and I finally have a very promising lead, so we can absolutely plan to meet each other soon! [ **txt** ]  
I really like the sound of dinner with you. When I get a good breath of fresh air from this case, I’ll call you so we can set up a time? [ **txt** ]  
I want to see you again for sure, that’s all I know for certain. [ **txt** ]

 

Donghyuck grinned widely at the semi formal way Johnny texted, his heart beating faster as he read the last text message. His good feeling had been right, since it seemed as though the detective was just as excited to be hearing from him. His phone vibrated with another incoming text message, and he clicked on the home button again to wake up his phone.

 

And hopefully we can repeat the events that happened today ;) [ **txt** ]

 

Donghyuck’s cheeks flushed bright red at Johnny’s text message, and he ducked his head to try and catch his breath. He could already tell that between the danger of his job and the snarky way he texted, Detective Johnny Seo would certainly be the death of him. The artist let out a long breath as he finally opened the conversation to reply, a grin slowly spreading on his lips even though he tried to force it down.

  
[ **txt** ] oh, for sure. that tie u wear would be the perfect blindfold for u to have on while i have my wicked way with u ;)

**Author's Note:**

> not sure if you caught on but sub!johnny is definitely implied and i may or may not be playing around with him later.
> 
> PLEASE comment below and let me know what you think of this fic!! it helps keep me going to know what other people think!!!!
> 
> stay tuned for the next fic in this series! i'm not sure which ship i'm going to write next/who it's gonna be gifted to, but i'm sure it'll come to me soon. until next time!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [twit](https://twitter.com/enceeteadealer/status/1149788025682980864)


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